New Delhi: Following her expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha as a Trinamool Congress MP in a 'cash for query' case, TMC leader Mahua Moitra on Friday said that the Ethics Committee probing the matter is another "weapon to crush opposition into submission" and that the panel has broken every rule in the book.
The expelled Lok Sabha MP alleged that she has been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that 'does not exist'.
Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the 'cash for query' that was tabled in the Lower House today.
Soon after her expulsion, she read her statement on Parliament premises and said, "This LS has also seen the weaponisation of the Parliamentary Committee.
Ironically the Ethics Committee which was set up to serve as a moral compass for members, instead it has been abused egregiously today to do exactly what it was never meant to do, which is to bulldoze the opposition and become another weapon to 'thok do' (crush) us into submission."
"This committee and this report have broken every rule in the book. In essence you are finding me guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist," Moitra said, adding that the committe is punishing her for engaging in a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in the House.
Moitra further alleged that the findings are solely based on the written testimonies of two private citizens whose versions contradict each other in material terms and her right to cross examine them was snatched.
"None of whom I was allowed to cross-examine. One of the two private citizens is my estranged partner, who with malafide intention, masqueraded as a common citizen in front of the committe. The two testimonies have been used to hang me there at polar opposites to each other," she said.
"The complainant says (that) I accepted cash in consideration for my businessman to ask questions in furtherance of his commercial interests. But the businessman's suo motu affidavit, says I pressurised him into uploading questions to further my agenda. The two are at pole of opposites," she clarified on the issue.
The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner".
"The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report read.
Speaker Om Birla said, "...This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra's conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP..."
The House was then adjourned till December 11.
The opposition MPs immediately staged a walkout after the Lok Sabha adopted the motion to expel Mahua Moitra as TMC Member of Parliament.
Moitra said that the Ethics Committe without getting to the root of this decided to hang me. "It refuses to summon the businessman over the testify and there is no evidence of any cash or any gifts anywhere," she said.
"You tell me that I have compromised national security with a login portal. Adani is buying all our ports, airports...Ramesh Bidhuri stands up in Parliament and says to Danish Ali, who is one of 26 Muslim MPs in the country of 200 million Muslims. The BJP has 303 MPs and has not sent one Muslim MP to Parliament.
No action has been taken (against Ramesh Bidhuri). You hate minorities, you hate women, you detest Nari Shakti, and you cannot handle power and authority," she said, adding that she is 49 years old and will continue to fight you for the next 30 years inside or outside Parliament. (ANI)
